Research Interests

Star-forming galaxies

Galaxies undergo vigorous bursts of star formation that quickly build up stellar mass, and may, through violent outflows, prevent future star formation. Dr. Rigby investigates the evolution of star formation in galaxies through cosmic time, using multiwavelength spectroscopy and photometry.

Gravitational Lensing

Rare gravitational lenses act like "nature's telescopes", magnifying the background universe by factors of up to 100x, enabling Dr. Rigby and collaborators to peer inside normal galaxies at the epoch of galaxy assembly.

Obscured Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN)

Much of the growth of supermassive black holes is hidden from us, due to large columns of obscuring gas and dust. Dr. Rigby studies these obscured active galactic nuclei, with a focus on their multiwavelength properties, and how to identify the subset that are highly obscured.

Future telescopes

Rigby supports the development of future NASA mission concepts. Rigby serves on the Science & Technology Definition Team for the Large UV/Optical/Infrared Telescope (LUVOIR) mission concept.

Positions/Employment

9/2010
-
Present

Astrophysicist

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD

9/2006
-
8/2010

Spitzer Fellow and Carnegie Fellow

The Carnegie Observatories,
Pasadena, CA

9/2000
-
6/2003

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

The University of Arizona,
Tucson, AZ

Education

Ph.D., Astronomy, March 2006, The University of Arizona M.S., Astronomy, May 2003, The University of Arizona B.S., Physics, May 2000, with Highest Distinction, Penn State B.S., Astronomy and Astrophysics, May 2000, with Honors and Highest Distinction, Penn State